trends in education philanthropy€¦ · big picture trends in education philanthropy this new...

Trends in Education PhilanthropyBenchmarking 2018-19

Trends in Education Philanthropy:Benchmarking 2018-19

Table of Contents

Foreword ...........................................................................................................1

Key Findings .....................................................................................................2

1. Big Picture Trends in Education Philanthropy ............................................5

2. Philanthropic Practice in Education ..........................................................10 Funders Are Committed to Advancing Education Equity ........................... 10 Collaboration Remains a Priority for Funders .............................................. 13 Public Policy Prioritizes Local Focus ............................................................ 14

3. The Content of Education Giving .............................................................15 Early Learning .............................................................................................. 15 K-12: Focus on the Whole Learner .............................................................. 17 K-12: Core Academics and Obama-Era Priorities........................................ 21 Postsecondary Education and Workforce/Career Readiness ...................... 24

4. Looking Ahead: Critical Questions Shaping the Future of Education ...25

Endnotes .........................................................................................................27

Funder Spotlights Coming Together to Restore Public School Funding .................................... 9 Building Internal Competency to Advance Education Equity ..................... 12 Catalyzing Engagement in State-Level Early Learning Policy ..................... 16 Educating the Whole Learner ...................................................................... 20

Appendix A: Methodology ............................................................................28

Appendix B: Education Funders’ Field-Building Strategies ........................30

Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2018-19 | 1

Foreword

DEAr CoLLEAGuES,

I’m excited to share our 2018-19 benchmarking report

with you. This is the 10-year anniversary of the first

administration of our benchmarking survey and report.

For a decade, we have been tracking trends in education

giving and helping you to situate your own grantmaking

within them.

As the nation’s largest association of education grant-

makers, we are able to capture information across the

entire system serving children and youth, from their first

experiences in early learning settings all the way through

postsecondary education and workforce preparation.

I want to extend a personal thank you to the many of

you who took the time to complete the survey, allowing

us to develop this composite of the state of education

philanthropy.

When we first administered this survey in 2008, our

nation was at the nadir of the Great Recession and philan-

thropy was playing an important role in ensuring schools,

educators and support organizations had what they

needed to serve learners. A decade later, though the

economy is strong, education spending in 38 states has

not returned to pre-recession levels. The role of philan-

thropy is as essential as it was then, but its direction

has evolved.

Our first benchmarking survey coincided with the dawn

of President Obama’s tenure. The federal imprint in those

years was substantial. Starting with the Race to the Top

in 2009 and continuing until the passage of the Every

Student Succeeds Act in December 2015, the hallmarks

of the era were topics like standards, assessment, school

turnaround and teacher quality. Many funders were

partners in these important reforms. However, these are

among the topics that have seen the steepest declines on

the funding priority list in 2018.

Survey data make clear that we, collectively, have begun

to redefine education philanthropy and education reform

quite profoundly in the past few years. A focus on equity

is manifesting itself in increased funding projections for

restorative justice initiatives and wraparound supports

for schools. DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts

are listed among the most promising trends in the field.

Interest in social and emotional learning is growing as the

brain science supporting it deepens.

Postsecondary education and early childhood education

are generating increased enthusiasm among funders,

though early education grant dollars are dwarfed by the

dollars going to the other end of the education spectrum.

Meanwhile, many K-12 issues are not seeing the same

momentum. Funders have lost faith in government,

especially the federal government, as either a thought

leader or to sufficiently fund education.

I hope you will find that the report has something for

everyone. We have organized it so that you can easily

focus on:

• Big Picture Trends;

• Philanthropic Practice; and/or

• The Content of Education Giving

I am grateful to the team at TCC Group who supported

us in the survey administration, analysis and writing for

this report.

I am eager to discuss the findings in depth with all of you

and to learn how you use them to inform your own work

in the coming year.

Best,

Celine Coggins

Executive Director

Grantmakers for Education

2 | Grantmakers for Education

Key Findings

Grantmakers for Education’s Trends in Education Philan-

thropy: Benchmarking 2018-19 report offers insights

on the current and evolving priorities of the education

funding community. It can help funders to understand their

role in supporting education innovation and identify future

priorities that hold the greatest promise for benefiting

America’s learners.

This latest report in Grantmakers for Education’s series

of benchmarking studies identifies what’s now and what’s

next for education philanthropy. Findings are drawn

from the survey responses of Grantmakers for Education

members and other education funders and presented

in the context of the 10-year anniversary of the bench-

marking report.

Big Picture Trends in Education PhilanthropyThis new benchmarking study comes at a time of

seemingly rapid evolution in the priorities of education

funders. Three trends stand out based on the speed

with which they have come to the fore, their crosscutting

focus and the scale of their current or potential impact on

education philanthropy. Based on survey responses:

• Education funders have markedly increased their focus on the learning stages before and after K-12 education. While elementary and secondary education

has long dominated U.S. education funding priorities

and continues to do so, some of the largest gains in

shares of funders and biggest anticipated increases in

support reported by respondents were for early learning,

postsecondary education and preparation for career

and workforce. Among factors driving the growth for

early learning are a growing understanding of the critical

importance of preparing young learners for success prior

to beginning kindergarten, as well as increased public

interest and investment in early learning. For postsec-

ondary education and workforce and career readiness,

a central factor has been a belief in the critical

importance of postsecondary education in preparing

learners for a rapidly changing labor market.

• Education funders have ramped up support for strategies embracing the whole learner, while moving away from the academic areas of focus that characterized the prior decade of education reform. A growing body of research on the impact of social

and emotional intelligence and family and community

supports on learners’ academic and life success has

fueled funder interest in advancing strategies that

support learners’ holistic development. Respondents

cited social and emotional learning as the factor or

trend they think has the greatest potential for a positive

impact on education over the next five years.

• Educationfundershavelostconfidenceinfederalgovernment leadership on and funding for education reform. Survey findings suggest that many funders have

stepped away from direct engagement in the large-

scale, academic-focused, national efforts to reform the

education system and have migrated back to focusing

on local communities. In fact, when asked to identify

the factors they think will have the greatest potential

negative impact on education in coming years, the

single largest share of respondents cited current federal

education leadership.


Philanthropic Practice in EducationGrantmakers for Education has tracked the evolution of

education funders’ engagement in three crosscutting areas

of philanthropic practice across several prior editions of

the benchmarking report. The latest report provides an

updated look at the nature and extent of education funder

engagement in these areas of practice and finds:

• Funders Are Committed to Advancing Education Equity. Seventy-five percent of respondents targeted

funding with an explicit focus on low-income

populations, ethnic or racial minorities, people who

identify as LGBTQ, immigrants and refugees, women

and girls and/or people with disabilities. Among

respondents, efforts to promote educational equity

primarily focused on providing resources to communities

least-well served to increase equitable learning opportu-

nities for youth.

• Collaboration remains a Priority for Funders. Education funders place a high value on engaging

with peers through formal networks, participating in

shared learning, aligning grantmaking and even pooling

their funding. Overall, 91 percent of respondents to

the latest benchmarking survey reported participating

in some type of collaborative activity. Increasing the

potential for impact and leveraging resources were most

commonly cited as factors influencing funders’ desire to

collaborate.

• Public Policy Prioritizes Local Focus. When asked

how they were addressing trends with the greatest

potential positive or negative impact on education,

the single largest share of respondents indicated that

they planned to increase their support for public policy-

related activities. Much of this policy-related activity is

taking place at the local level. Just 11 percent consider

the current federal policy environment to be moderately

or highly favorable to their current education funding

priorities. By comparison, close to three-quarters of

respondents consider the local policy environment to be

moderately or very favorable to their priorities.

The Content of Education GivingThe new edition of Grantmakers for Education’s bench-

marking report for the first time offers descriptive analyses,

respondent insights and funding outlooks organized by

four entry points to education:

• Early Learning. As mentioned above, early learning has

benefited from an increased focus by education funders

on the learning stages before and after K-12 education.

Preparing young learners for success in school and

life will experience continued strong growth in funder

support, ensuring both access and program quality.

• K-12: Focus on the Whole Learner. A focus on the

whole learner has ramped up funder support for social

and emotional learning and family and community

engagement. Funders will continue to increase

investments in many learning approaches, including

personalized learning or learner-centered learning,

with some of the strongest growth in support for social

and emotional learning. Similarly, funders will continue

to expand investments beyond the K-12 classroom

that ensure learners have the support from family and

community they need to be successful.

• K-12: Core Academics and obama-Era Priorities. The most notable decreases in funder interest come

in the areas of assessment, standards and account-

ability. Addressing the development of K-12 teachers

and leaders appears to be a decreasing priority for the

education funding community, but many continue to

focus on this space. Meanwhile, following Obama-era

engagement in supporting new school models and

school turnarounds, funders appear to have moved

away en masse, though support for charter schools has

remained steady.

• Postsecondary Education and Workforce/Career readiness. Postsecondary education and workforce and

career readiness have benefited from a growing focus

by education funders on the learning stages before and

after K-12 education. Looking ahead, workforce and

career readiness will benefit from continued growth

in funding. Postsecondary education will also receive

greater overall funder support.


Looking Ahead: Critical Questions Shaping the Future of EducationLooking ahead, the observations and insights shared by survey respondents suggest clear reason for optimism, while also

pointing toward implications that allow us to engage in critical reflection together. Among the complicated questions the

survey data raise, Grantmakers for Education has chosen to highlight six.

1

2

3

4

5

6

ABouT ThiS rEPorT The 2018-19 edition of Grantmakers for Education’s benchmarking

report offers a refreshed format that enables readers to consider

big picture trends affecting the field, explore cross-cutting areas of

foundation practice, access and compare key learnings and statistics

across identified entry points to education and consider critical

questions that will shape education in coming years. The report also

offers four “Funder Spotlights,” which serve to illustrate why and how

education funders are seeking to have an impact in the areas of public

education financing, social and emotional learning, and early learning,

and how they are preparing themselves to address education equity.

Findings presented in this report are based on the responses of

91 education funders, including 65 members of Grantmakers for

Education. Well over half of respondents identified as family, private,

or independent foundations. Roughly two-thirds fund at the local

level, although substantial shares also fund at the state, regional and

national levels. Because respondents to the 2018 benchmarking survey

represent only a small fraction of the thousands of U.S. foundation,

corporate and other private funders of education and do not constitute

a representative sample, findings presented in the report should

be interpreted as suggestive of priorities and trends among survey

respondents but not conclusive for education philanthropy as a whole.

For more details, see the Methodology appendix.

Grantmakers see great promise in fields like early childhood education and social and emotional learning. Will funders substantially re-allocate resources to help early childhood education and social and emotional learning reach their potential?

It is clear the pendulum has swung from a focus on core academics to a focus on the whole learner. Yet, should we be worried that the pendulum will continue to swing away from academics?

The vast majority of funders do their grantmaking with an eye toward improving equity in our education system. Canwebetterdescribethemanythingswemeanwhenwetalkabout“equity”suchthatwecanreflectonourcollectiveprogress over time?

High levels of interest were reported in both postsecondary education and early childhood education. is it correct to infer a corresponding waning of interest in K-12 education reform? What are the implications for this segment of the system, which serves the largest portion of learners?

Commitment to engaging families and communities in shaping the education agenda is a growing priority among funders and is a positive trend. how will we navigate the challenge of sharing power with those who have historically had little, especially on occasions when their ideas differ from our own?

The systemic and structural challenges faced by today’s education sectors exceed the capacity of any single foundation to address independently. Do we have the collaborative relationships in place with one another and partners in other sectors to have a meaningful impactontheprioritieswehaveidentified?


Elementary / Secondary EducationLearning Approaches and Constituencies

3

In publishing its first benchmarking study a decade ago,

Grantmakers for Education sought to provide its members

and other funders with timely insight on the evolving

priorities of the education funding community. For funders

seeking to know “what’s next” for education philanthropy

and understand how their grantmaking priorities fit within

broader trends in the field, this report and its subsequent

editions have served as an essential resource.

Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking

2018-19 continues this tradition of helping funders to understand their role in supporting education innovation and identify future priorities that hold the greatest promise. This latest benchmarking study comes at a

time of seemingly rapid evolution in the priorities of education funders and documents noteworthy trends. These trends speak to all aspects of funder engagement in advancing education.

Looking across these various trends, three stand out

based on the speed with which they have come to

the fore, their crosscutting focus and the scale of their

current or potential impact on education philanthropy.

Education funders have markedly increased their focus on the learning stages before and after K-12 education. Elementary and secondary education has long dominated

U.S. education funding priorities and continues to do so.

Among respondents to the 2018 benchmarking survey,

82 percent report funding some aspect of K-12 education.

Their giving for this priority also accounts for approxi-

mately 57 percent1 of the $794 million in education

funding reported by respondents in their most recently

completed fiscal year. Yet, some of the largest gains in

shares of funders and biggest anticipated increases in

support reported by respondents were for early learning,

postsecondary education and preparation for career

and workforce.

In 2018, 56 percent of respondents to the benchmarking

survey reported funding postsecondary education.

This share was up by more than 10 percentage points

compared to the 2015 survey, the most recent prior

survey—the largest single area of growth of all topics

surveyed. Overall, 42 percent of grant dollars awarded

Big Picture Trends in Education Philanthropy1

W hat has changed since Grantmakers for Education published its last field-wide benchmarking report? What do these changes tell

education funders about the future and how they may want to prepare and be engaged?

2018 Funding for Early Learning, Elementary/Secondary Education,and Postsecondary Education

82%

* Funding may be counted toward more than one funding priority within this category. Therefore, fi gures undoubtedly overestimate the total share of giving focused on this category.

■ Share of Respondents ■ Share of Grant Dollars

57%66%

49%

4%

33%

Elementary/SecondaryEducation*

Postsecondary Education

and Workforce/Career Readiness*

Early Learning


Top Trends Impacting Education*

* Ranking based on coding of open-ended responses to the questions: “What are up to three factors or trends you think have the greatest potential for a positive [or negative] impact on education over the next five years?”

PoTEnTiAL For PoSiTivE iMPACT1. Social and Emotional Learning2. Teacher Preparation and Development 3. Workforce and Career Readiness4. Community Engagement5. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)6. Early Learning7. Postsecondary Education8. Collaboration9. Community Schools/Wraparound Supports 10. Personalized Learning/Learner-Centered Learning

by respondents focused on postsecondary education.

Workforce and career readiness also experienced a

marked gain in the share of funders providing support.

Moreover, preparation for the workforce and careers

ranks among the top factors or trends that respondents

believe have the greatest potential for a positive impact

on education over the next five years. Together, postsec-

ondary education and workforce and career readiness

accounted for two-thirds of survey respondents and almost

half of education funding.

On the other end of the education continuum, nearly

three-out-of-five of funders of early learning expect to

increase their giving for this priority over the next two

years—surpassing projected growth for all other priorities

identified in the survey. Overall, just over one-third of

respondents to the benchmarking survey reported funding

for early learning, consistent with the prior 2015 survey.

Their support accounted for 4 percent of total education

funding reported.

What has attracted education funders toward increasing

their focus on either side of K-12 education? In the case of

early learning, this reflects a growing understanding in the field of the critical importance of preparing young learners for success prior to beginning kindergarten, as well as increased public interest and investment in early learning. For postsecondary education and workforce and career readiness, a central factor has been a belief in the critical importance of postsecondary education in preparing learners for a rapidly changing labor market. What cannot

be determined from the latest survey, however, is whether

this increased investment in early learning, postsecondary

education and career and workforce readiness reflects

any degree of reduction in support for elementary and

secondary education.

Education funders have ramped up support for strategies embracing the whole learner, while moving away from the academic areas of focus that characterized the prior decade of education reform. A growing body of research on the impact of social and emotional intelligence and family and community supports on learners’ academic and life success has fueled funder interest in advancing strategies that support learners’ holistic development. The importance of this approach has been underscored by the lack of notable improvements in educational outcomes as a result of changes made under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, with its narrow focus on academic standards and testing, and Obama-era reforms that focused on new school models, teacher preparation, and school turnarounds, among other priorities. In fact, when respondents were asked to identify the factors or trends they think have the greatest potential for a positive impact on education over the next five years, the single largest share of respondents to the 2018 benchmarking survey cited the growing recognition of the importance of social and emotional learning to learners’ development.

PoTEnTiAL For nEGATivE iMPACT1. Federal Education Leadership2. Public School Financing3. Teacher Preparation and Development 4. Postsecondary Financing5. Charter Schools/Charter School Networks 6. Efforts to Limit Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)7. Technology8. Politicization of Education9. Postsecondary Education10. Standards/Assessments


One-third of respondents to the latest benchmarking survey fund social and emotional learning, although their giving represented a modest 3 percent of overall education funding. Nonetheless, well over half (56 percent) of these funders anticipate increasing their giving for this priority over the next two years—the second highest share reported across all education priorities tracked in the latest survey. A slightly smaller but still substantial share of respondents report providing support for community schools and wraparound supports (29 percent), and close to half of these funders (45 percent) expect to increase their giving for this priority over the next two years. Family and community engagement accounted for a similar share of respondents (29 percent), and more than one-third of these funders (37 percent) expect to increase their support.

Critical to realizing the potential of a whole learner approach, according to respondents, will be integrating social and emotional learning and family and community supports into a culturally competent and equity-based educational system. Robust engagement beyond academics alone will not ensure learner success. Therefore, the success of a whole learner approach will entail in part developing systems-change strategies that can be imple-mented across a fragmented education landscape.

At the same time, many of the largest drops in shares of funders providing support between 2015 and 2018 are in areas that Obama prioritized in the Race to the Top federal funding opportunities. Standards and assessment received support from 30 percent of respondents to the 2015 survey but only 15 percent in the latest survey. Similar declines were seen with new school models (32 percent to 8 percent) and school turnaround (30 percent to 12 percent), as well as teachers preparation and development (approxi-

mately 66 percent to 36 percent). The outlook for future

growth in funding also appears less than promising.

Education funders have lost confidence in federal government leadership on and funding for education reform. A decade ago, when we first administered this survey,

Americans elected a new presidential administration that promised to make the reform of the U.S. education system one of its signature priorities. Through high-profile grant

competitions, such as Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation (i3), the new administration established an active role for the federal government, proclaiming its intention to promote higher standards and more equitable opportunity for the country’s many learners. Many in the education funding community responded, providing support for the efforts of states working on Race to the Top applications, providing matching support for grant competitions and initiating or increasing their public policy-related engagement, among other activities.

A decade later, findings from the 2018 benchmarking survey suggest that many funders have stepped away from direct engagement in large-scale, academic-focused efforts to reform the education system at the national level and migrated back to focusing on local communities. Only 17 percent of respondents to the latest benchmarking survey consider the policy environment at the federal level to be even moderately favorable to their organizations’ current priorities. Moreover, when asked to identify the factors or trends respondents think will have the greatest potential negative impact on education over the next five years, the single largest share of respondents cited current federal education leadership.

What has diminished the promise of federal government and funder collaboration? Undoubtedly, myriad factors have contributed, such as: a radical shift in Department of Education priorities under the current presidential

Favorability of Federal Policy Environmentto Supporting Education Policies Consistent with Your Organization’s Current Priorities

40%Very

Unfavorable

30%ModeratelyUnfavorable

17%Moderately Favorable

0%Very Favorable

13%No Opinion


administration, combined with a lack of interest by the administration in partnering with funders; shifting education priorities over the Obama administration’s eight years in office leading to fewer opportunities to engage and partner; some criticism of federal policies advanced during the Obama administration years, such as Race to the Top and Common Core implementation; and the shift in responsibility for education reform implementation to the states as a result of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

A number of funders may also have considered the collaborative opportunities with the federal government and national nonprofit partners that began roughly a decade ago to have been exceptional, one-time prospects that existed separately from their long-term strategic objectives. For these and other education funders, the focus of their grantmaking and collaborative efforts has remained primarily at the local and, in some cases, state level.

An additional factor is undoubtedly the lack of current federal investment in public school financing. Among the potential negative factors or trends cited by respondents as having the greatest potential impact on education over the next five years, insufficient public school financing ranked high. As of 2018, 38 states had not returned to 2008 levels of K-12 funding.2 And this factor placed second only to current federal education leadership among potential negative impacts identified. At the same time, just 8 percent of respondents provide any funding related to public school finance, and only 7 percent of these grantmakers anticipate increasing their funding for this priority over the next two years. (See also funder spotlight on “Coming Together to Restore Public School Funding.”)

The role of private funders.The resources of private funders represent a tiny fraction of total U.S. annual expenditures on education. But foundations, corporations and other private funders are unique in the educational ecosystem in that they have far greater flexibility than most public funders to invest in exploration, experimentation and innovation that can benefit all stages of the educational system. Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2018-19 offers insights on the current and evolving priorities of the education funding community that can help funders to understand their role in supporting education innovation and identify future priorities that hold the greatest promise for benefiting America’s learners.

Change in Anticipated Education GrantsBudgets in the Next Fiscal Year

70%Remain

aboutthe same

10%Increaseby lessthan 10%

16% Increase by 10% or more

1%Decrease by 10% or more

2%Decrease

by less than 10%


In recent years, cuts in state-level support for public

education—in many cases driven by a marked loss in

tax revenue in the aftermath of the Great Recession—

have exacerbated disparities in the resources available

to learners, hitting those historically least well served

the hardest. Yet few private funders directly engage in

supporting efforts to increase public education financing.

Texas funders have been an exception.

In 2011, Texas state officials proposed a $5.4 billion

reduction in funding for public education to help fill a

$27 billion budget shortfall, caused primarily by a loss in

tax revenues from the petroleum sector. The potential

impact of these cuts on the state’s growing public school

population catalyzed a group of funders to begin to

consider ways they could work together and, ultimately,

led to the creation of the Texas Education Grantmakers

Advocacy Consortium (TEGAC).

From the outset, the consortium adopted an approach

of finding common ground among funders who were

all concerned about the cuts but represented markedly

different perspectives on how best to drive change

on behalf of students in Texas schools. Ultimately, the

consortium agreed upon a three-part advocacy strategy

that participating funders could engage in to whatever

extent their leaders and trustees felt appropriate for their

institutions. These strategies included:

• Funding objective, high-quality research on the

impact of the budget cuts, which was especially helpful

for educating the staff of busy legislators and other

state leaders.

• Involving foundation trustees in ways that reached

beyond grantmaking, such as traveling to the capital

to meet with legislators to make the case for public

education funding.

• Engaging in public awareness and outreach activities

to encourage community understanding of the impact

of the cuts.

The efforts of the consortium, along with those of directly

affected communities and many other advocates, resulted

in the 2013 restoration of $3.9 billion of the 2011 cuts.

The consortium’s research provided “the only objective

source of data on the impact of the budget cuts,” and

the engagement of funders in direct advocacy “was also

powerful for legislators.” This initial success has since

encouraged more Texas funders to participate in the

consortium, with members determining shared priorities

for subsequent biennial legislative sessions.

Coming Together to Restore Public School Funding*

* This Funder Spotlight is based on Jenkins, L. and D. Johnson, “Joining Forces: How the Texas Education Grantmakers Advocacy Consortium is Engaging Funders in Education Policy,” Case Study No. 13: Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking, Grantmakers for Education, 2016. The full case study can be accessed at http://edfunders.org/sites/default/files/Case%20Study_TEGAC_2016.pdf.

FunDEr SPoTLiGhT


Grantmakers for Education has tracked the evolution of

education funders’ engagement in three crosscutting

areas of philanthropic practice across several editions

of the benchmarking report. These include advancing

education equity, establishing and maintaining collab-

orative relationships with other funders, and undertaking

and supporting public policy-related activities. The

2018-19 edition of the benchmarking report provides an

updated look at the nature and extent of education funder

engagement in these areas of practice.

Funders are committed to advancing education equity.Education funders continue to prioritize educational equity

and consider its advancement as being among the factors

having the greatest potential positive impact on education

over coming years. The 2018 survey found that 75 percent

of respondents targeted funding with an explicit focus

on low-income populations, people of color, people who

identify as LGBTQ, immigrants and refugees, women and

girls and/or people with disabilities.

Just over two out of five respondents indicated that their

education funding included a specific focus on ethnic and/

or racial groups. However, this figure may underestimate

the level of education support targeting this population.

In some cases, a focus on low-income populations

serves as a proxy for reaching communities of color,

which are disproportionately economically vulnerable.

As one respondent concluded, “By focusing our work on

low-income communities, we naturally end up promoting

equity for minority students.”

According to the survey, most education funders address

educational inequities at least in part through a focus on

economic status. One typical respondent noted, “Our

organization promotes educational equity through our

allocation of resources, technical assistance and advocacy

all focused on creating opportunities for young people

from low-income backgrounds.” In some cases, this focus

reflects the more homogenous demographics of a funder’s

geographic areas of focus. “While our region has relatively

little racial diversity, we have a clear divide between those

students from economically advantaged backgrounds and

those that are not,” remarked a respondent.

Survey responses indicate that education funders

are actively seeking ways to put equity commitments

into practice in clear, strategic and effective ways and

addressing questions such as:

• Where should we focus geographically and in regard to

specific communities?

• How best can we engage the most impacted commu-

nities in defining the work?

• Which of our grantmaking practices reflect and further

equity principles?

• What outcomes can we expect given the intersecting

nature of equity concerns?

A funder from a state characterized by a few relatively

more diverse urban centers and extensive rural areas,

commented, “Equity means very different things across

the state.” Another respondent shared, “We’ve been

having lots of conversations about what it would look like

for us to be more explicit about adopting an ‘equity lens’

when doing and talking about our work. It’s challenging to

know what this would really look like operationally.”


efforts to promote educational equity primarily focused

on providing resources to communities least-well served,

in order to increase equitable learning opportunities for

youth. At the same time, some education funders are

working to identify and address the root causes of educa-

tional inequity. “The greatest challenge in advancing

Philanthropic Practice in Education2


educational equity is the complexity of the issue,”

concluded one funder. “It deals with large systems that

are slow and difficult to change, individuals who may

have the best intentions but continue to reinforce racist

structures and it’s exacerbated by racism in workplaces,

public policy, the criminal justice system, etc.” Another

respondent concurred, stating that it is “critically important

for educators to understand bias and how it impacts

student achievement.”

The national political environment has reinforced the

commitment of funders to supporting diversity, equity and

inclusion work. “We are feeling greater pressure to focus

on diversity and equity-related issues as part of our grant-

making, given this void at the federal level,” remarked one

funder. Another noted that the “dismantling of protections

for LGBTQ students, undocumented students and other

vulnerable student populations will have very real impacts

on students’ well-being.” The “rise of hate groups” that

“add stress in our school systems” was also cited as a

driver for funder engagement in educational equity work.

Finally, one-third of respondents (33 percent) reported that

their institutions have written policies on applicant and/

or grantee diversity. The goals of these funders include

“trying to support our grantee organizations to hire diverse

teams and to listen to diverse voices” and increasing

“representation of diversity in administration and

governance of school systems.” A funder that supports

culturally responsive pedagogy noted that they “just

developed an equity rubric to review grants as well as an

equity assessment our…partner schools will take. We hope

this will give us important data around the disposition and

mindsets conducive to healthy school communities.”

ForMAL CoMMiTMEnT To BoArD DivErSiTY A MoDEST BuT GroWinG PrioriTYThe vast majority of education funders lack formal policies

on their boards’ diversity. Among respondents to the

2018 benchmarking survey, only 28 percent responded

affirmatively to having written policies on board diversity.

Another 15 percent were uncertain as to whether their

institution had a written diversity policy for their boards.

According to the most recent research from BoardSource,

nonprofit boards—including foundation boards—are no

more diverse than they were two years earlier.3

Nonetheless, findings from the survey may somewhat

underrepresent the commitment of education funders to

board diversity. Several respondents noted that, while they

do not have written policies, they actively recruit for board

diversity. Other respondents are moving toward adopting

more formal polices. “We are working on a DEI strategy

and…hope to have a more articulated strategy around

grantmaking and staff/board policies later this year,”

indicated one funder.

Board diversity can be especially helpful in advancing

an educational equity agenda. “Our staff is way ahead

of our board on this one,” observed one respondent. A

family foundation funder noted, “Our all-white family is

really uncomfortable in this space. Our staff is racially and

ethnically diverse and this is much more important to us.

We take baby steps each year in pushing this agenda with

our board.”

Staff Diversity

Applicant and/or Grantee Diversity

Board Diversity

Funders Report HavingWritten Diversity Policies On:

■ Yes ■ No ■ Don’t Know

38% 56% 6%

33% 61% 6%

28% 57% 15%

Population Focus of Education Funding

Economic Status

Race/Ethnicity

Immigration Status

Girls/Women

Boys/Men

Gender Nonconforming

Sexuality (LGBTQ)

Ability Status

Share of Respondents

Gender/Gender Identity

71%

42%

25%

10%

9%

4%

5%

3%


T he majority of respondents to recent benchmarking studies embrace a commitment to equity in educa-tional opportunity and attainment. Advancing an

equity agenda requires both developing outward-facing strategies and engaging in internal learning, dialogue and self-assessment to ensure that staff have a shared under-standing of and commitment to an equity agenda.

Two funders that have made internal learning an essential element of their equity journey are the NewSchools Venture Fund and the Lumina Foundation. Through diversifying organization leadership and evolving approaches to owing their equity agenda, these funders have been building the internal capacity needed to achieve greater education equity in their activities.

For NewSchools, a new leader came on board in 2014 “committed to putting diversity and equity front and center.” In part by bringing in more diverse leaders at the top of the organization and letting them build their own teams, NewSchools staff went from being predominately white to almost half people of color by 2017. The previously all-white board also added two people of color in the first 18 months under the new leader. To ensure that the organi-zation is living up to the diversity, equity and inclusion standards it asks the ventures its supports to embody, NewSchools has also conducted internal sessions with staff to “increase their understanding of racial equity, unpack issues of race and personal bias and identify ways to strengthen the organization’s systems and practices related to diversity and equity.”

For the Lumina Foundation, establishing an ambitious external goal for postsecondary educational achievement served as the catalyst for an evolving internal focus on equity. According to one foundation leader, “It was mathe-matically impossible to reach the 2025 goal by continuing to do very well by white, middle-class Americans while ignoring those from our equity populations who have not been well represented among degree holders.” Other factors

intensified the foundation’s sense of urgency: a growing understanding that students of color often did not feel comfortable or that they could express their point of view, as well as increasing racial and ethnic tensions nationally.

The foundation began with an environmental scan of internal operations and external messaging that concluded staff “needed a deeper understanding of and comfort level with racial equity, as well as more consistent language in talking about equity.” This initial work was followed by the appointment of a staff member to lead the foundation’s equity initiatives, the strengthening of hiring practices to “ensure that the interview process would advance only if there were a diverse pool of applicants,” and the offering of voluntary staff learning opportunities on race and equity.

In beginning to develop its next strategic plan, however, the foundation concluded that it had shifted too quickly from building staff “expertise and comfort” around racial equity to a focus on grantmaking. As a result, the foundation was hindered in its “ability to fully embrace equity as THE framework through which [it] could achieve the 2025 goal. Without this critical step, a deep and sustainable commitment to equity [was] impossible.” Leadership at the foundation concluded that they needed to take responsi-bility themselves for making racial equity “an organization-wide priority,” and discontinued the equity lead position. They also brought in external facilitators to support staff in developing “a shared understanding of equity, recognize systematic barriers to equity and strengthen their personal competencies related to working with individuals of different races and backgrounds.”

These conversations could be uncomfortable for staff, who traditionally avoided discussions of politics and race, but yielded broad agreement on their value. As one foundation leader noted, a commitment to equity “doesn’t equate to having the skills and competencies needed to embed and lead on equity…. [Having] some understanding of systemic racism, or what leads to or sustains attainment gaps, or will lead to narrowing of attainment gaps…will help all of us make better decisions as we work with grantees.” Consistent with this observation, the facilitator of NewSchools’ staff equity training sessions noted, “Some people want to ‘do equity’ in two hours, or four hours, but that’s not how this works. It needs to be ongoing.… I’ve seen the work take root, shifting from just having conversations to being central to what they are doing.”

* This Funder Spotlight is based on Russell, C. and L. Jenkins, “The Equity Journey: NewSchools Venture Fund and Lumina Foundation Pursue Diversity on the Road to Equity,” Case Study No. 16: Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking, Grantmakers for Education, 2017. The full case study can be accessed at https://www.edfunders.org/sites/default/files/Case_NewSchools_Lumina_2017.pdf.

Building Internal Competency to Advance Education Equity*

FunDEr SPoTLiGhT


Collaboration remains a priority for funders.Education funders place a high value on engaging with

peers through formal networks, participating in shared

learning, aligning grantmaking and even pooling their

funding. Overall, 91 percent of respondents to the 2018

benchmarking survey reported participating in some type

of collaborative activity. Since the benchmarking study

series began tracking funder engagement in collabo-

ration in 2008, at least 90 percent of respondents have

reported participating in some type of collaborative effort

to support their education priorities.

Funders reported engaging in collaborative efforts across a

broad range of priority areas, with some funders indicating

that all of their funding priorities required collaborative

efforts to make progress. “We work closely with other

funders in the area…to ensure our funding priorities are

mutually reinforcing and we’re all working toward the same

goal,” concluded one respondent. “We believe this kind of

systemic collaboration is essential to progressing on issues

such as education.” Another funder concurred saying, “It

is important to have multiple funder voices supporting an

issue. It is more likely to drive change than having a single

funder promote an issue as part of their strategy.”

Other funders cited the need to collaborate with peers

to leverage their resources. “We make a significant

proportion of our grants with…partners because our

resources are insufficient to meet needs,” noted one

respondent. The need to combine limited resources can

also be a factor in encouraging collaboration around

policy-related efforts. “There are very few funders willing to

support advocacy,” said one funder, “so we partner there.”

While successful collaboration can multiply the impact of

funders’ education initiatives, it does not come without

challenges. As one respondent opined, there can be “‘too

many cooks in the kitchen’ and not enough coordination to

get everyone working toward the same goal.” According

to respondents, another challenge can lie in figuring out

the right balance between advocating for one’s institutional

priorities and arriving at shared priorities together.

Affi nity Group Participation

Learning Networks/Shared Learning

Strategic Alignments/Aligned Grantmaking

Pooled Funding

No Engagement in Past Year


65%

65%

65%

42%

9%

Education-related Formal CollaborativeEfforts During Past Year

6%7%

12%

17%

25%

33%

Share of Education Funding RepresentingAligned and/or Pooled Funding in the Past Year

Share ofRespondents

Percent of BudgetRepresentingAligned and/orPooled Funding

■ 75% or more

■ 50% to less than 75%




■ Less than 5%


Public policy prioritizes local focus.When funders were asked in the 2018 benchmarking

survey how were they addressing the positive and

negative trends they think have the greatest potential

impact on education over the next five years, the single

largest share of respondents indicated that they planned

to increase their support for public policy-related activities.

As one respondent observed, “We have gotten much

more involved in advocacy than we ever have been. We

need to impact policy to really see the full effect of our

strategy play out.”

Efforts to engage the public, build public will, advocate

and inform public policy benefited from the support of

53 percent of respondents to the 2018 benchmarking

survey. This share was slightly lower than the 59 percent of

respondents to the 2012 survey that reported engaging

in public policy or public will building activities. Among

grantees that focus on public policy and advocacy,

education funders were more likely to support those

working in the area of elementary and secondary

education (36 percent of funders) than early learning

(27 percent of funders) or postsecondary education

(20 percent of funders).

The 2012 benchmarking study predicted that “many

education policy issues will shift from federal to state and

local arenas,” following the exceptional engagement

by education funders in early Obama-era reform efforts.

This prediction has proven true. In fact, just 11 percent

of respondents consider the current federal policy

environment to be moderately or highly favorable to

their education funding priorities. By comparison, close

to three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents to the

latest survey consider the local policy environment to be

moderately or very favorable to policies consistent with

their current priorities. At the state level, this was true for

just over half of respondents.

Favorability of Local Policy Environmentto Supporting Education Policies Consistentwith Your Organization’s Current Priorities

49%ModeratelyFavorable

23%Very Favorable

14%No Opinion

4%Very

Unfavorable

9%Moderately

Unfavorable

Favorability of State Policy Environmentto Supporting Education Policies Consistentwith Your Organization’s Current Priorities

45%ModeratelyFavorable

9%Very Favorable

10%No Opinion

10%Very

Unfavorable

25%Moderately

Unfavorable


3

The 2018-19 edition of Grantmakers for Education’s bench-

marking report for the first time offers comparable learnings

and statistics organized by identified entry points to

education: early learning, focus on the whole learner, core

academics and Obama-Era priorities in K-12 education, and

postsecondary education and workforce/career readiness.

These brief profiles highlight overall findings and document

key issues identified by respondents.

Early Learning

outlookEarly learning has benefited from an increased focus by education funders on the learning stages before and after K-12 education, although it accounts for a small share of grant dollars. Preparing young learners for success in school and life will experience continued strong growth in funder support.

EArLY LEArninG ConTinuES To GroW AS A FunDEr PrioriTYThe value of investing in structured early learning oppor-

tunities, from music lessons for infants through universal

preschool, has been well established. “We know the

earlier a child is exposed to learning, the greater their

long-term outcomes,” observed one respondent to the

2018 benchmarking survey. Yet as of 2016 approximately

one-in-three four-year-olds and one-in-seven five-year-olds

were not enrolled in either a partial- or full-day preschool

program, and these shares “were not measurably different

from the percentages enrolled in 2000.”4

Overall, one-third of education funders responding to

the 2018 survey funded efforts to provide access to early

learning and/or to ensure the quality of these programs.

Well over half of these funders (58 percent) also anticipate

increasing their funding for this priority over the next two

years—the highest percentage reported among all of

the education priorities tracked in the latest survey. This

growth in private support coincides with increased public

advocacy for and investment in early learning. Why does

interest in supporting early education continue to grow?

As one funder concluded, “If we address the front end of

the education continuum, we won’t have to invest in fixing

the back end.”

Beyond supporting access to early learning opportunities,

ensuring the quality of these programs has been a focus

cited by respondents in earlier benchmarking studies and

again in the latest survey. One respondent specifically

homed in on a lack of investment in the development of

the early learning workforce noting, “You can’t achieve

quality early childhood education without it.”

The Content of Education Giving

2018 Funding 33%

Share of Respondents Share ofGrant Dollars

4%

Anticipated Change in FundingOver Next Two Years

38%Remain

aboutthe same

58%Increase

4%Decrease


For more than fifteen years, three Pennsylvania foundations have collaboratively supported expansion of early learning opportunities statewide. The Grable

Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and the William Penn Foundation began their work based on emerging research about the benefits to individuals and society that result from investments in early learning. The foundations continue to meet regularly to share their work, discuss state-level opportunities and needs, and identify ways they can collaborate or provide support independently.

Among many initiatives supported by these foundations, the Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission (ELIC)* provides an illustrative example of how foundation support can serve to advance an evolving state-level policy agenda. ELIC was established by a governor’s executive order in 2008 to leverage the position and wisdom of business leaders to educate the public and policymakers about the importance of early learning. The nonpartisan commission informs Pennsylvania’s business leaders about the importance of early learning and engages them in outreach to policy-makers, interactions with media on early learning issues, and coalitions of business leaders around the state. While the commission was established by executive order, it has been dependent on private sources for operational support. The three foundations, recently joined by Vanguard Charitable, continue to provide support for ELIC staff and operations. According to Elliot Weinbaum of the William Penn Foundation, the ELIC has played a key role in engaging support for early learning from stakeholders working in fields outside of education. More recently, recognizing the limitations inherent in being entirely dependent on a small number of foundations, funders have also supported ELIC to diversify its revenue base. With a new executive director and re-vamped business model, ELIC is poised to expand support for early learning well into the future.

These same funders have also been supportive of direct advocacy work, with outreach organizations helping residents across the state and from every background to understand the importance of early learning. One specific

example of this advocacy, the Pre-K for PA campaign, works toward the day when every child in the common-wealth will have access to free or affordable high-quality pre-kindergarten programming. In the five years since the campaign has been underway, state investment in pre-K in Pennsylvania has more than doubled, now exceeding $260 million dollars annually. Foundation support helped advocacy organizations push for greater investment in early learning that has improved the life course for tens of thousands of children. “Investing in research, education, communications and advocacy is essential to increase public investments in early childhood (and K-12) education,” noted Michelle Figlar of The Heinz Endowments. “This is a space that philanthropy can support both grassroots and grass-tops organizations.”

Emerging leaders in the early learning field are another constituency foundations are helping to engage in Pennsyl-vania’s early learning policy process. “As an emerging leader in the field, it can be overwhelming or confusing to make an impact at the state level,” noted Gina Federico, training and policy assistant with Early Intervention Technical Assistance (a business partner of Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Devel-opment and Early Learning, or OCDEL) who oversees the OCDEL Policy Fellowship. “Professionals know that they are getting regulations and policy statements from the state but don’t know how they can use their voices in informing this process. The agency or organization for which someone works may not be able to provide this type of learning.” With funding from The Grable Foundation, as well as support from The Heinz Endowments for alumni fellows and an evaluation, the OCDEL Policy Fellowship is currently supporting its third cohort to understand and navigate the complex systems that shape the public and private early learning system and use and share that learning back within their organizations and communities.

The OCDEL Policy Fellowship has been so successful that OCDEL will commit state funds to cover over half of the cost of the fourth cohort. OCDEL had committed funds for the past three years but is increasing its contribution as it considers long-term sustainability of the fellowship. The program would not have existed without initial support from foundations. While there were clear benefits in supporting emerging leaders in early learning to become more policy-

and systems-savvy, “the state couldn’t fund the pilot,”

observed Kristen Burns of The Grable Foundation. “And

that’s what was needed to make the case for its value.”

Catalyzing Engagement in State-Level Early Learning Policy

FunDEr SPoTLiGhT

* See https://paearlylearning.com/.


2018 Funding

Social and Emotional Learning

Community Schools/Wraparound Supports

Family/Community Engagement

Arts Education

Expanded Learning/Out-of-School

Dropout Prevention/Disconnected Youth

Personalized Learning/Learner-Centered Learning

Use of Technology in the Classroom

Disciplinary Policy/Restorative Justice

Digital Literacy

Child Welfare Systems

Juvenile Justice Systems

■ Share of Respondents■ Share of Grant Dollars

33% 3%

29% 2%

29% 2%

27% 2%

24% 3%

23% 2%

16% 4%

14%1%

12%1%

10% 2%

9%1%

8%0.3%


Social and Emotional Learning

Use of Technology in the Classroom

Community Schools/Wraparound Supports

Disciplinary Policy/Restorative Justice

Family/Community Engagement

Personalized Learning/Learner-Centered Learning

Dropout Prevention/Disconnected Youth

Digital Literacy

Expanded Learning/Out-of-School

Arts Education

Juvenile Justice Systems

Child Welfare Systems

■ Increase ■ Remain About the Same ■ Decrease

56% 44% 0%

52% 43% 5%

45% 55% 0%

43% 57% 0%

37% 60% 2%

34% 62% 3%

33% 64% 3%

29% 67% 4%

27% 70% 3%

26% 71% 3%

24% 65% 12%

17% 78% 6%

K-12: Focus on the Whole Learner

ouTLooKA focus on the whole learner has ramped up funder support for social and emotional learning and other non-cognitive approaches in K-12 education. Funders will continue to increase investments in many learning approaches, with some of the strongest growth in support for social and emotional learning.

ouTLooKA focus on the whole learner has increased funder interest in family and community engagement. Funders will continue to expand investments beyond the K-12 classroom that ensure learners have the support from family and community they need to be successful.

SoCiAL AnD EMoTionAL LEArninG BEnEFiTS FroM GroWinG FunDEr inTErESTLooking back to the 2015-16 benchmarking study, social

and emotional learning and the sometimes-related priority

of personalized learning were identified as emerging

trends among education funders geared toward meeting

the needs of diverse learners. The report’s authors stated

that, “We expect social and emotional and personalized/

competency-based learning to become increasingly

central to the work of funders and educators across the

field—less a discrete strand of work than a core focus

embedded within all efforts to support student learning.”

This prediction has borne out based on findings from the

2018 survey. Overall, one-third of respondents reported

providing support for social and emotional learning, and

more than half of these funders anticipate increasing their

giving for this (mostly) K-12 priority over the next two years.

Social and emotional learning also ranked as the leading

factor or trend respondents believe has the greatest

potential for a positive impact on education over the next

five years. According to one respondent, this growing

belief in the value of social and emotional learning reflects

“increased recognition that the ‘whole child’ matters and

that schools play a critical role in ensuring that students

receive more holistic support.” Another respondent

spoke to the benefits of social and emotional learning

beyond individual learners, concluding that it “will create


healthier, more resilient communities.” Respondents

also emphasized the integral role of trauma-informed

practice within social and emotional learning, which will

“help educators more effectively reach students who have

experienced trauma.”

A smaller share of 2018 survey respondents (16 percent)

provide support for personalized learning or learner-

centered learning, but one-third of these funders expect to

increase their investments over the next two years. (For a

profile of how funders are engaging to support social and

emotional learning see “Educating the Whole Learner.”)

CoMMuniTY EnGAGEMEnT inCrEASinGLY iMPorTAnT To EDuCATion FunDErSFunders continue to expand their support for efforts

to embed the elementary and secondary educational

experience within learners’ families and communities,

leveraging existing family and environmental supports and

directly addressing challenges to their overall well-being.


60 percent provided funding related to engaging family

and communities in learning environments and they

anticipate strong growth in funding for these priorities

over the next two years.

Among the factors or trends funders identified as having

the greatest potential for a positive impact on education

over the next five years, engagement with learners’

families and communities ranked near the top. As one

respondent put it, “Family-focused thinking” is essential

“because it recognizes that students are not individual

units separate from others.” Another respondent offered

that, “It is the only model that addresses all the other

aspects of poverty that challenge a student beyond his

academic exposure and opportunities.”

Respondents indicated that how communities are

engaged will be essential to the success of learner access

and outcomes. “We need to be intentional and collab-

orative in our approach,” stated one funder. This insight

applies equally to funders supporting efforts in urban and

rural communities with youth least well-served. In addition,

funders were not limited to thinking about family and

community engagement strictly in terms of enhancing

the well-being of individual learners. In fact, a number of

respondents emphasized the role of community organizing

in engaging youth and families in defining their educa-

tional priorities, enabling school and system change and

ensuring attention to sustained improvement. “Building

power and increasing collaboration will be necessary

preconditions to school improvement,” concluded one

respondent. Another remarked that community schools

“will become the source of organizing a neighborhood

and training leaders.” A third respondent distilled this

sentiment down to “community engagement/civic partici-

pation = better schools.”

ExPAnDED LEArninG SEEn AS iMPorTAnT To EnSurinG EQuiTABLE oPPorTuniTYExpanding learning opportunities offered in the primary

and secondary years through afterschool, out-of-school

and summer programs have been identified as a critical

priority by education funders since the first bench-

marking study was released in 2008. “All of the evidence

suggests you can’t close the achievement gap without it,”

concluded one respondent. Yet, while the 2012 bench-

marking study reported that “on average, the percentage

of funders who cited expanded learning opportunities as

an important priority investment has held at 70 percent,”

only about one-quarter (24 percent) of respondents

to the 2018 survey indicated that they fund expanded

learning opportunities. Nonetheless, a couple of funders

cited a lack of public investment in expanded learning as

being one of the factors or trends that have the greatest

potential for a negative impact on education over the next

five years.

SuPPorTinG DiSCiPLinArY PoLiCY ChAnGE LiKELY To BE An ArEA oF GroWTh About 12 percent of respondents currently focus

resources on efforts to reform disciplinary policies, and

over two-fifths of those that currently fund this priority

anticipate increasing their giving over the next two years.

Research indicates that harsh discipline and “school push

out” approaches disproportionately target black and

Latino youth and contribute to youth disengaging from

and dropping out of school altogether.


FunDErS SuPPorT roLE oF TEChnoLoGY BuT ExPrESS ConCErnSWhen asked to identify the factors or trends they think

have the greatest potential for a positive or negative

impact on education over the next five years, slightly

more respondents identified the use of technology in the

classroom as having a negative than a positive impact.

Among those seeing positive attributes, one respondent

identified the benefits of a “focus on computer science,

creative computing and digital literacy (broadly defined)

for underserved students, because digital tools and being

digitally savvy are the means of creation and essential to

economic mobility.”

Among respondents expressing a more pessimistic stance

on the role of technology in the classroom, a primary

concern is that, as one respondent put it, “Tech is being

used for the sake of tech versus meaningful educational

outcomes.” Another respondent expressed a larger

caution that, “Technology has become a ‘magic pill,’

rather than a tool to enhance teaching and learning.”

Even among respondents that expressed positive belief in

the role of technology, one noted the “need to figure out

appropriate usage and access.”


Establishing a deeper understanding of how children learn and approaches to support each learner’s unique development builds upon decades of

research. These findings illuminate the importance to life success of positive relationships with adults, having agency, finding relevance, and experiencing safe spaces and a sense of belonging. This work “resonates with our human experience of learning,” noted Zoë Stemm-Calderon of the Raikes Foundation. When asking adults about their most powerful learning experiences, “They don’t talk about worksheets but rather about the quality of relationships with the people that were helping them, having the opportunity to make meaning with others and to master something and learning about things connected to what mattered in their world.”

The Seattle-based Raikes Foundation, a national funder, seeks a “just and inclusive society where all young people have the support they need to achieve their full potential.” The foundation works to advance this vision in part through support for basic research on the science of learning and development tied to an equity analysis, as well as through working with researchers to design and test approaches that leaders can use to build equitable schools and systems. For example, the foundation brought together 10 nonprofit school support organizations to participate in a three-year learning network that uses the science of learning and development and continuous improvement to advance equity in the schools they support. Collabora-tively, these organizations are developing practices, tools, policies, and interventions that close opportunity gaps for those least well served by our current system. The Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network was co-designed and is supported by experts in science, equity, and continuous improvement.

A place-based funder, the Tauck Family Foundation supports the “holistic development” of the children of Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they can be empowered and successful in their education and reach their full potential. The foundation adopted an exclusive focus on education in Bridgeport in 2012 based on a belief in the

ability of education to provide a ladder out of poverty and a desire to narrow its focus to have a greater impact. Through subsequent research, it identified social and emotional learning (SEL) as a means to this end. The foundation’s interest in supporting Bridgeport children’s access to social and emotional learning, coupled with SEL as a priority area of need for the then superintendent, served as a catalyst for the establishment of the Bridgeport Public Schools SEL Initiative, which builds the skills of public-school adminis-trators, teachers, staff, students and their families. Through rigorous measurement, the initiative has demonstrated enhanced academic outcomes, along with improved school climates, decreases in suspensions and reduced absen-teeism. Tauck has recently expanded its portfolio to provide similar deep, long-term investments in social and emotional learning to Bridgeport’s Catholic schools and early learning programs, in addition to ongoing support to local charter schools and out-of-school time efforts. Establishing strong community support and allowing school administrators to lead this work has been critical to the success of these initiatives to date. “We see our role as being a champion for and supporter of these efforts,” observed foundation leader Mirellise Vazquez.

Reflecting increased funder engagement with SEL, in 2016 a group of leading grantmakers—including the Raikes and Tauck Family foundations—created Grantmakers for Thriving Youth (GTY). GTY seeks to advance a compre-hensive approach that will enable all young people to acquire the skills and capacities needed for success in learning, work, citizenship and life. Said Lead Facilitator Kathleen Traphagen, “GTY is designed to provide grant-makers with a continuum of options for participation, from shared learning and coordination to collaborative action.”

Many funders of SEL also joined together to support the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development at the Aspen Institute. The Commission’s new report, From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope,* provides a roadmap for change to ensure that all children have the social, emotional and academic skills they need to learn and thrive. The timing is fortuitous, according to Terri Shuck, former executive director of the National Public Education Support Fund, as education funders “move beyond technical approaches for ‘fixing’ schools to a deeper understanding of how humans learn and the funda-mental connections between the development of individual

identity, and family and community supports to actually

improve learning and life outcomes for all students.”

Educating the Whole Learner

FunDEr SPoTLiGhT

* See http://nationathope.org/.


K-12: Core Academics and Obama-Era Priorities

ouTLooKAddressing the development of K-12 teachers and leaders appears to be a decreasing priority for the education funding community. But funders who remain committed to this topic anticipate increasing their grant dollars for this priority.

ouTLooKFollowing engagement in supporting new school models and school turnarounds over the prior decade, funders appear to have moved away en masse. Charter schools are an exception and will continue to garner a consistent level of support.

ouTLooKThe role of funders in supporting standards, data and assessments may wane. However, their commitment to the value of evidence-based practice will remain strong.

FEWEr FunDErS FoCuS on TEAChErS AnD LEADErSIn recent years, teacher preparation and development had

ranked as a top priority for education funders. As recently

as the 2015-16 benchmarking study, roughly two-thirds of respondents had reported funding teacher preparation and development—surpassing all other focus areas. By comparison, approximately half that share of respondents (36 percent) identified themselves as providing support for teacher preparation and development in the 2018 survey. This marked decline in share suggests that supporting teacher learning and development may have ceased to be a priority for a number of funders.

This finding should not suggest that teachers do not benefit from substantial education funder resources. Among 2018 respondents, teacher preparation and devel-opment represented 9 percent of overall education grant dollars. This share exceeded all other focus areas except

postsecondary education. Moreover, teachers ranked

among the top two factors or trends education funders

believe are likely to impact the education field over the

next five years (see below). As one funder stated, “We



Leadership

New School Models/Designs

English Language Learners

Teacher Preparation andDevelopment

Literacy/Reading Skills

Data Systems

Special Needs Education

STEM

Curriculum and Pedagogy

Charter Schools/Charter School Networks

School Turnaround/Low-Performing Schools

Public School Finance

Performance Management

Standards/Assessments

45% 50% 5%

43% 54% 4%

39% 61% 0%

36% 62% 2%

33% 67% 0%

26% 70% 4%

24% 71% 6%

20% 73% 8%

17% 73% 10%

16% 81% 3%

12% 81% 8%

7% 87% 7%

5% 84% 11%

0% 88% 12%

2018 FundingLiteracy/Reading Skills

Teacher Preparationand Development

STEM

Curriculum and Pedagogy

Leadership

Charter Schools/Charter School Networks

English Language Learners

Data Systems

School Turnaround/Low-Performing Schools

New School Models/Designs

Public School Finance

Performance Management

Special Needs Education

Standards/ Assessments

■ Share of Respondents■ Share of Grant Dollars

36% 2% 36% 9% 35% 5%

29% 6% 29% 4% 21% 2% 18% 1% 15% 1% 12% 2% 8% 1% 8% 1% 5% 1%

5%0.3% 4%0.2%


believe strongly in supporting teachers…. We think one

of the keys to better performance in school is better

engagement in the classroom.”

Findings from the 2018 benchmarking survey showed a

similar decline in the share of education funders engaged

in supporting education leadership (i.e., principals, super-

intendents, etc.). A total of 29 percent of respondents

reported supporting leadership, compared to almost half

of respondents to the 2015 survey.

Despite the reductions in shares of respondents providing

support for teacher preparation and development and

school leadership, resources for these priorities appear

likely to continue to grow. Among education funders

supporting preparation and development for teachers,

more than one-third (36 percent) expect to increase

their funding over the next two years. For those funding

education leadership, the share expecting to provide

greater support over the next two years was even higher

(45 percent).

EMPhASiS on EDuCATorS SEEn AS BoTh PoSiTivE AnD nEGATivE When asked to identify the factors or trends likely to have

the greatest potential for a positive impact on education

over the next five years, respondents to the 2018 bench-

marking survey ranked teacher preparation and devel-

opment as the second most-important factor after social

and emotional learning. Identified by one respondent

as “the most significant factor for in-school learning,”

teachers are essential for improving educational outcomes

for learners. Funders identified a variety of approaches

for addressing the needs and improving the experiences

of teachers in the classroom. These include: collective

efficacy and visible learning and teaching, in which

teachers evaluate themselves and help learners become

their own teachers; competency-focused teacher prepa-

ration; practiced-based teacher preparation; increased

teacher autonomy; alternative teacher certification,

enabling easier entry into the teaching profession; and

better teacher compensation to attract more talent and

reduce turnover.

Respondents also ranked teachers as one of the top

factors likely to have the greatest potential negative

impact on education over the next five years. Concerns

identified by respondents most commonly focused on a

potential teacher shortage as baby boomers retire, low

teacher compensation contributing to higher turnover and

fewer individuals see the teaching profession as offering a

sustainable career. One factor undoubtedly contributing

to the latter trend was the narrowing of focus on teacher

quality over the last decade tying much of students’

success to teacher performance, with less consideration of

resource and environmental factors.

CurriCuLuM AnD PEDAGoGY A PrioriTY For MAnY FunDErSThe 2018 benchmarking survey for the first time asked

if respondents fund curriculum and pedagogy, which

undoubtedly encompasses funders’ more specific educa-

tional priorities, ranging from science, technology,

engineering and math (STEM) instruction to social and

emotional learning to massive open online courses

(MOOCs). A substantial 29 percent of respondents

indicated that they do fund this area. Three respondents

also identified project-based learning as being among

the factors or trends that have the greatest potential for a

positive impact on education over the next five years.

FunDErS APPEAr LESS EnGAGED in SuPPorTinG nEW SChooL MoDELS AnD SChooL TurnArounDSPrivate funders continue to play an essential role in

helping to seed innovation and experimentation in school

design, scale-up successful models and support school

turnarounds. However, it appears that fewer funders may

support these types of activities. In the 2015-16 bench-

marking study, 32 percent of respondents reported

funding new school models and/or designs, compared

to just 8 percent in 2018. Similarly, about 30 percent of

2015 respondents reported providing support focused on

school turnaround/low-performing schools, compared to

12 percent in 2018. While differences in survey samples

may account for some of this disparity, the scale of the

differences suggests that a number of education funders

have decided to move away from investing in these

priorities.

What cannot be determined from the 2018 data is the

relative importance of factors that may be driving this

change. For example, to what extent does this trend


reflect an inevitable shift away from the education priorities

of earlier federal administrations as funders seek out

fresh funding priorities? Has the failure of some models

to yield tangible benefits diminished funder interest? Has

the change in federal education leadership lessened the

potential benefits of investing in institutional innovation?

What other combination of factors may be influencing

this trend?

ChArTErS SChooLS GArnEr ConSiSTEnT SuPPorTRespondents to the 2018 benchmarking survey showed

a relatively more consistent level of engagement in their

support for charter schools and charter school networks.

Just over one-in-five respondents (21 percent) reported

providing funding for this purpose. Nonetheless, only one

respondent identified charter schools as being a factor or

trend they think has the greatest potential for a positive

impact on education more systemically over the next

five years.

FEDErAL EMPhASiS on SChooL ChoiCE rAiSES ConCErnSConcerns over a focus on school choice and what some

respondents referred to as the “privatization of education”

were cited by several respondents asked to identify

factors or trends most likely to have a negative impact on

education over the next five years. One funder observed,

“Given that choice operates as a zero-sum game, you still

have to fix the system as a whole. Otherwise, you will still

only serve a small percentage of learners in high quality

seats.” Of particular concern for some respondents is how

school choice could undermine efforts to ensure equity in

educational opportunities. “Federal leadership is moving

us away from equitable approaches [based on] their belief

that the for-profit model serves students,” noted one

respondent.

FunDEr invESTMEnT in DATA AnD ASSESSMEnTS ConTinuES To DECLinE Data systems and standards and assessments engage

relatively few education funders, according to the 2018

benchmarking survey, and these shares were far lower

than those recorded in recent years. Overall, 15 percent

of respondents to the latest survey reported providing

support for data systems, compared to the nearly 30

percent that reported investments in the 2015 survey.

The change was even more dramatic for standards

and assessments, which dropped from 35 percent of

respondents in 2015 to just 4 percent in 2018. Of course,

changes in the sample make direct comparisons of

these shares imprecise. Nonetheless, the scale of these

reductions suggest that more funders have moved away

from investing in these priorities. In addition, only about

one-quarter (26 percent) of funders investing in data

systems expect to increase their giving for this priority

over the next two years, while no funders of standards and

assessments expect to increase their giving and 12 percent

expect to reduce their support.

This finding was predicted in the 2015-16 benchmarking

study. The report’s authors explicitly stated that, “Only

a portion of the funding community has been engaged

in actively funding work relating to standards and

assessments—and the data suggest that funders may be

pulling back in the coming year.” They added, “It could

be that…many funders do not see a need for their direct

involvement in this work. Standards and assessments have

become an increasingly hot-button issue, and the extent

to which that politicization has influenced funder consider-

ations toward grantmaking in the space bears evaluating.”

This does not mean that education funders consider data

and assessments to be irrelevant to improving educa-

tional outcomes. In fact, several respondents to the 2018

survey included the use of evidence-based data to guide

approaches and scale what works, support continuous

improvement and identify barriers to learner access and

success among the factors or trends that have the greatest

potential for a positive impact on education over the next

five years.

Respondents also identified several assessment strategies

they considered to have great potential for positively

impacting education. For example, an alternative strategy

would be to move from standardized testing to portfolio

assessments that address multiple ways of learning. “This

is definitely a work in progress,” stated one respondent.

“But it will encourage schools to look beyond test scores

to define their students.”


Postsecondary Education and Workforce/Career Readiness

ouTLooKPostsecondary education and workforce and career readiness have benefited from a growing focus by education funders on the learning stages before and after K-12 education. Looking ahead, workforce and career readiness will benefit from continued growth in funding. Postsecondary education will also receive greater overall funder support.

A MAjoriTY oF FunDErS invEST in PoSTSEConDArY EDuCATionAddressing the continuum of educational needs continues

to be a priority for funders, from early childhood to

integrating secondary and postsecondary learning to

supporting multiple educational pathways to ensuring

that learners are prepared for ever-evolving workforce

demands. Since the benchmarking studies began in

2008, postsecondary access and success has been an

important priority for respondents. In 2018 well over half of

respondents (56 percent) indicated that they fund postsec-

ondary education—surpassing the share recorded in the

2015-16 benchmarking study.5 Moreover, 42 percent of

grant dollars awarded by respondents focused on postsec-

ondary education, far exceeding any other priority tracked

in the 2018 survey.

Why does postsecondary education appear to be growing

as a priority for funders? Respondents cited as a primary

driver a belief in the critical importance of postsecondary

education in preparing learners for a rapidly changing

labor market. As the 2015-16 benchmarking study also

noted, “the best jobs of today require new kinds of skills

and the jobs of tomorrow do not yet exist.”

Consistent with this observation, more than two out of five

respondents (42 percent) provide funding for workforce

and career readiness, an increase over the share recorded

in the 2015-16 benchmarking study. Workforce and career

readiness also ranked third among the factors or trends

that respondents believe have the greatest potential for

a positive impact on education over the next five years.

According to respondents, among the ways this will take

place include having “more learners graduating with

certificates and associates degrees and moving directly

into high earning jobs in the STEM fields,” the integration

of education with the business sector to “link learning and

economic opportunity” and “ensure graduates have the

skills needed in today’s workforce,” and “increasing focus

on the future of the workforce” to “help to align education

with the degrees and careers of tomorrow.”

CoST oF PoSTSEConDArY EDuCATion rAnKS AS A ToP ConCErnReflecting the ongoing escalation in costs, respondents to

the 2018 benchmarking survey ranked a lack of postsec-

ondary education financing high among factors they

think have the greatest potential for a negative impact on

education over the next five years. “There is a growing

perception that a college education is no longer needed

or worth the cost,” remarked one respondent. Another

concurred that there is “growing skepticism related to the

‘value’ of higher education.” Among factors respondents

cited as contributing to the continued rise in the cost of

postsecondary education included reductions in state

funding, a rolling back of regulations on students loans,

as well as a more general “public disinvestment in higher

education,” in part driven by “one’s political persuasion.”

The consequences they anticipate include “shutting out

more and more low-income students from obtaining

the degree of their choice” and limiting the ability of

graduates to engage in the prerogatives of adulthood,

such as setting up their own homes and having children. 2018 Funding 54%

6%

42% 42%

PostsecondaryEducation

Workforce and Career Readiness

■ Share of Respondents ■ Share of Grant Dollars

Workforce and Career Readiness

Postsecondary Education



39% 61% 0%

24% 63% 12%


Elementary / Secondary EducationLearning Approaches and Constituencies

3

Grantmakers see great promise in fields like early childhood education and social and emotional learning. While they project funding increases in the coming years, both issue areas are starting with very limited dollars relative to other issue areas in education. Will funders substantially reallocate resources to match their optimism with the funding needed to help early childhood education and social and emotional learning reach their potential?

It is clear the pendulum has swung from a focus on core academics to a focus on the whole learner. This shift reflects important learning in our field about the limits of prioritizing the cognitive, without recognizing other dimensions of a learner’s life. It is a necessary course correction. Yet, should we be worried that the pendulum will continue to swing away from academics?

The vast majority of funders do their grantmaking with an eye toward improving equity in our education system. Approaches to addressing equity are varied and occur along a number of different dimensions: from restorative justice practices in schools, to diversifying the teacher pipeline, to intentionally encouraging greater diversity in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. Can we, as a collective of members, more clearly articulate our strategies to advance equity such that we can reflect on our collective progress over time?

4 Looking Ahead: Critical Questions Shaping the Future of Education

The survey findings presented in Trends in Education

Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2018-19 offer clear evidence

of the critical role of our members and other education

funders in promoting innovative, responsive and equitable

public education. Whether they support efforts to

embed social and emotional learning in school curricula,

strengthen and diversify the teacher workforce or support

local policy efforts to enable systemic change, education

funders share a commitment to ensuring the best potential

outcomes for our nation’s learners.

Continued on next page.

1

2

3

At the same time, the 2018-2019 benchmarking report

raises some clear questions in its findings – about the

commitment of funders to K-12 education, whether

this new focus on early childhood and postsecondary

education will be sustained, and whether and how equity

can be embedded into these efforts.

The observations and insights shared by survey respond-

ents suggest clear reason for optimism, while also pointing

toward implications that allow us to engage in critical

reflection together. Among the complicated questions the

survey data raise, Grantmakers for Education has chosen

to highlight six.


4

5

6

Grantmakers see great promise in fields like early childhood education and social and emotional learning. While they project funding increases in the coming years, both issue areas are starting with very limited dollars relative to other issue areas in education. Will funders substantially reallocate resources to match their optimism with the funding needed to help early childhood education and social and emotional learning reach their potential?

Commitment to engaging families and communities in shaping the education agenda is a growing priority among funders and is a positive trend. However, adding more voices inevitably adds more complexity in decision-making. How will we navigate the challenge of sharing power with those who have historically had little, especially on occasions when their ideas differ from our own? How do we ensure that widening participation and input productively informs our work while maintaining clarity on differing accountability and responsibility for decisions?

The systemic and structural challenges faced by today’s education sectors exceed the capacity of any single foundation to address independently. While many survey respondents reported engagement in some type of collaborative learning and/or grantmaking efforts, there is far greater potential for funders working together. And without greater commitment to aligning with others for shared aims, it is unlikely that the full potential for progress will be realized. Do we have the collaborative relationships in place with one another and partners in other sectors to have a meaningful impact on the priorities we have identified? How can we strengthen collaboration?

The field of education philanthropy is at an inflection point.

We have gleaned many lessons about what students need

to succeed since the first administration of this survey,

a decade ago. With that knowledge, we are approaching

systems change in education from a new vantage point

and with new funding priorities. It is a moment that is

both tumultuous and exciting for its potential. And given

the divisive political climate, it is a moment where our

collective leadership has never been more necessary.


Endnotes

1 Funding may be counted toward more than one elementary and secondary education funding priority. Therefore, this

figure undoubtedly overestimates the total share of giving focused on elementary education.

2 See “Total State K-12 Funding Below 2008 Levels in Most States,” prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy

Priorities and accessed at https://www.cbpp.org/total-state-k-12-funding-below-2008-levels-in-most-states-0.

3 See Leading with Intent: 2017 National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices, BoardSource, 2017.

4 See National Center for Education Statistics, Preschool and Kindergarten Enrollment, April 2018 update,

at https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cfa.asp.

5 Benchmarking 2015: Trends in Education Philanthropy reported that 41 percent of respondents funded Postsecondary

Success and 37 percent funded Postsecondary Access.


Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking

2018-19 presents up-to-date analysis and insights on the

current and future priorities of U.S. education funders

based on the survey responses of 91 funders, including

65 members of Grantmakers for Education. The online-

only survey was conducted from July through September

2018 and distributed to 259 GFE members (25 percent

response rate) and 406 other education funders identified

by Grantmakers for Education and through Foundation

Center data (6 percent response rate).

Because respondents to the 2018 benchmarking survey

account for only a small fraction of the thousands of

U.S. foundation, corporate and other private funders of

education and do not constitute a representative sample,

findings should be interpreted as suggestive of funder

priorities and trends but not conclusive. In addition,

comparisons of findings for 2018 with those presented

in earlier benchmarking studies are generally limited to

broad trends and not changes in shares of funder or grant

dollars. As the size and composition of survey samples has

changed with each study, distributions presented in each

benchmarking study are not directly comparable.

rESPonDEnT ChArACTEriSTiCSThe majority of 2018 benchmarking survey respondents

(57 percent) self-identify as family, private, or independent

foundations. Roughly two-thirds (64 percent) fund at the

local level, close to half (47 percent) at the state level,

and nearly one-third (31 percent) at the national level.

About half of respondents (49 percent) explicitly focus

funding on large urban areas, while more than one-third

of respondents (37 percent) maintain an explicit focus on

funding rural areas. By recipient focus, the largest share

of respondents funds elementary/secondary educational

institutions, followed by postsecondary educational insti-

tutions and early learning organizations.

The 89 respondents who included information on their

grants budgets provided education funding totaling

$794 million in their latest fiscal year. More than half of

respondents (56 percent) gave at least half of their total

funding for education-related priorities. The median

amount awarded for education by members of Grant-

makers for Education was $2.55 million, compared to $2.3

million for non-member respondents.

Geographic Focus of Education Funding

Local

State

National

Multi-State or Regional

International


64%

47%

31%

22%

5%

Appendix A: Methodology

Type of Education Funder

Family Foundation

Private Foundation

Community Foundation

Corporate Foundation

Association, Intermediary, or Supporting Organization

Grantmaking Public Charity

Independent Foundation

Operating Foundation

Other


26%

24%

9%

9%

8%

7%

7%

5%

5%


Share of Total Grants BudgetSupporting Education

Percent of Total GrantsBudget SupportingEducation

■ 75% or more




■ Less than 10%

3%

40%

16%

18%

23%

Share ofRespondents

Community Focus of Education Funding

Large Urban Communities

Small to Mid-Size Urban Communities

Rural Communities

Suburban Communities

Not Applicable


49%

42%

37%

27%

30%

iSSuE ArEAS TrACKEDThe 2018 benchmarking survey tracked education

funding across 29 specific issue areas. Grantmakers for

Education made the decision to consolidate or drop

several categories of funding included in the previous

2015 survey, reflecting the evolving priorities of education

funders. Grantmakers for Education also added several

issue areas to the 2018 survey to capture new directions in

the field, including Child Welfare Systems, Curriculum and

Pedagogy, Digital Literacy, Disciplinary Policy/Restorative

Justice, Juvenile Justice Systems, Public School Finance

and Special Needs Education.


Education funders overwhelmingly emphasize the

importance of building up the capabilities of institutions,

key constituencies and the relationships among and across

them. More than eight out of ten respondents to the 2018

benchmarking survey provide support for organizational

capacity building and scaling-up existing organizations

or models. As one respondent remarked, “We believe a

focus on the collective capacity building of stakeholders is

key to the success of educational outcomes.” Seven out

of ten respondents support professional development and

training for education professionals in the field, including

teachers, school leaders and professionals working in

organizations focused on education. A nearly equal share

supported convening and peer learning. The closely

related priority of network building and collaboration

also receives support from well over half of the funders

surveyed.

Appendix B: Education Funders’ Field-Building Strategies

Strategy Focus of Education Funding


Capacity Building/Scaling-Up Existing Organizations and Models

Professional Development and Training

Convening and Peer Learning

Network Building and Collaboration

General/Operating Support

Evaluation of Programs/Organizations

Public Engagement/Building Public Will/Advocacy

Seed Money/Incubatingor Supporting New Innovations

Technical Assistance

Strategic Planning

Public Policy

Community Organizing

Scholarships to Individuals

Strategic Communications

Capital Support

Financial Sustainability

84%

70%

68%

58%

54%

48%

47%

43%

42%

41%

36%

32%

30%

30%

22%

18%

Strategy Focus of Education Funding


About Grantmakers for Education

Grantmakers for Education is the nation’s largest and most diverse network of education grantmakers dedicated to improving educational outcomes and increasing opportunities for all learners. For more information, visit www.edfunders.org.

Contributors

TCC Group Report AuthorsSteven LawrenceSenior Philanthropy Research Affiliate

Melinda Fine, Ed.D. Director of Philanthropy & Strategic Partnerships

Grantmakers for Education ContributorsCeline CogginsExecutive Director

Ana TiltonExecutive Director (Former)

rebecca SmithCommunications Manager

trends in education philanthropy€¦ · big picture trends in education philanthropy this new...

Documents